


Chocolate Saves Lifes

by HomeForImaginaryFriends



Series: 13 Days of HQ Halloween [7]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Demonic Possession, M/M, Priests, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-25 21:58:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12542096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomeForImaginaryFriends/pseuds/HomeForImaginaryFriends
Summary: Tendou is positive that Semi is being possessed by a demon and he convinces Yamagata to call in his soulmate, someone who everyone is surprised by.





	Chocolate Saves Lifes

Yamagata isn’t sure how he was elected to help all the first years study but here he is, in the library on a rare day off from volleyball, surrounded by first years.  They had been nervous around him at first but Hayato considered himself good with people.  Plus he knew what it was like for them, being back benchers on a prestigious school, hoping for that one shot to prove themselves.

 

It was hard getting a bunch of volleyball headed idiots to concentrate on anything else besides the game for more than a few moments at a time.  Yamagata understood that also.  He would much rather be talking, or playing, volleyball or doing pretty much anything other than going over material he had already done three years prior.

 

“Goshiki,” Yamagata put as much disapproval in his voice as he could, watching as Goshiki popped up from where he had been shoving a chocolate bar in his mouth underneath the table.  “Pay attention.  I know you got this wrong on the practice test.”  Goshiki wilted and Hayato almost felt bad.  Almost being the keyword.  He wasn’t going to waste his time off by letting anyone slack off.  Not even Goshiki, who was kind of like a giant puppy.

 

“Hey Yamagata.”  Oohira came around a bookcase with Ushijima by his side.  Many of the first years stuttered out greetings and goodbyes before quickly packing their things and running.  Ohira looked a bit sheepish as he took one of the many vacated seats.  “Sorry about that.”

 

“It’s not your fault!”  Goshiki, one of the few first years who stayed seated, said with enthusiasm.  Though there wasn’t much Goshiki did without enthusiasm.

 

“Are you done with that maths worksheet?”  Yamagata asked, watching as Goshiki visibly jumped before furiously writing on his previously empty sheet.  Yamagata shook his head as he looked over at Ohira and Ushijima once more.

 

“I was wondering if you could go over my paper for me?”  Ohira asked Yamagata, even though the other teen was in a higher class than him.  Yamagata wasn’t in the habit of turning people down so he held out his hand for the paper before going over it with painstaking care.  It was a pain because Ohira tended to be quite precise in his papers, which was probably why he was in a higher class that Yamagata.

 

“Here you all are!”  Yamagata ignored Tendou as he started to pat his pockets, looking for his phone to look up the name of one of the emperors Ohira had written about, wondering about the correct spelling.  Tendou slid into the empty seat on Yamagata’s left, which was an oddity in itself.  Mostly Tendou zeroed in on Ushijima, Semi, Goshiki, and then Shirabu.  Yamagata ranked pretty low on Tendou’s ‘To Bother’ list.  “Looking for something?”  Yamagata looked up finally to see Tendou holding his phone.  His new phone since his last one had been permanently lost.  His parents had made him swear up and down that he would be more careful with the new one.

 

“You should be more careful with your possessions.”  Ushijima always sounded so grave when he spoke with that deep gravelly voice, but it was something he always said when Yamagata inevitably lost his phone.

 

“I will of course give it back, but I need a little favor.”  Tendou twisted in his seat, head tilting far back and almost unnaturally.  Yamagata thought about what it would mean being indebted to Tendou.  He was mostly harmless, Yamagata had learned that throughout the years.  He could even be given to small acts of kindness when he thought others weren’t looking, or if he could annoy someone else by being kind to someone.  Tendou praised Goshiki the loudest when Shirabu was around to hear.

 

“What is it?”  Yamagata asked.  He wondered if, now that they had lost their last chance to Nationals the school would kick them out before they graduated.

 

“You said once that your soulmate owned a shrine?”  Tendou pressed his face almost uncomfortably close to Yamagata’s.  Yamagata was too surprised Tendou remembered that bit of information, something he must have said years ago since he hardly talked about his soulmate, to be distracted by Tendou’s close proximity.  “So he’s a priest?”

 

“No, he’s 17.”  Yamagata corrected before pushing Tendou’s face back and snatching his phone out of his loose grip.  “What do you need a priest for?”

 

“Tendou, you are not listening to the locals again are you?”  Ushijima asked, looking up from his work with a slight frown on his face.  Only years of knowing Ushijima let Yamagata know that the other teen was actually upset by the thought.  Sometimes, or most of the time if Yamagata is being completely honest, when the team does roadwork the local teens like to call out to them.  Sometimes it’s nice, but most of it is about them attending a wealthy school.  Tendou is a memorable character though and everyone knows the name Guess Monster.  Sometimes they say rather nasty things as he runs past.

 

“No no, of course not ‘toshi.”  Tendou waves off the concern.  “It’s about Semisemi.”  The fact that Tendou and Semi are soulmates was a big surprise to everyone.  It had been three years and Yamagata was still surprised when either mentioned it, mostly because up until rather recently they had mutually agreed to ignore it.

 

“Why would Semi need a priest?”  Ohira asked, also caught up in the conversation even though he was usually pretty studious.  Tendou could run around the library naked and Ohira wouldn’t look up from his notes once.

 

“Haven’t any of you noticed?”  Tendou looked around the table in confusion.  “Toshi doesn’t notice anything so that’s understandable and Hayato is completely absorbed with taking care of his little ducklings but you too Reon?”

 

“It has been a rough week for many of us.”  Ohira said with a shrug, though he did look a bit guilty.  Ushijima didn’t look phased but Yamagata was trying to figure out what Tendou meant by ducklings.  Did he mean the first years?

 

“Exactly!”  Tendou slammed his fist on the table, making Goshiki jump.

 

“Tendou!”  Goshiki announced happily.  Yamagata rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling an oncoming headache as Tendou chatted happily at Goshiki, making sure to get a few good compliments in about Goshiki’s hair and attitude.

 

Yamagata glanced down at his phone, wondering about his soulmate now that he’d been brought up.  They hadn’t talked since before Shiratorizawa’s match against Karasuno.  It’s not as if Yamagata didn’t care about his soulmate, he did.  They had known each other since they were five and Yamagata and his sister found a runaway dog with a name and a number on his tags.  Their parents had put them together for playdates but allowed them to make their own decisions as they got older.  They even attended the same elementary, though they separated in middle school.  They kept in contact but they both agreed that they were too young to think about the long term just yet.  Mostly they were just worried about class work and school clubs and troublemaker underclassmen to give soulmates too much thought.

 

“So will you do it?”  Tendou asked, shoving his face into Yamagata’s once again.

 

“First of all, he’s not a priest and secondly I don’t know what you think a priest could do about a little sadness.”  They were all upset about not making it to nationals but they still had to carry on.  Semi had come up against hardships in his short life, he would get over this one the same way he got over being benched for a first year.  Even after hours of helping Semi practice his serving, Yamagata still had trouble receiving them.

 

Yamagata looked up at Tendou as he thought about how Semi handled difficult situations.  Semi wasn’t really the type to get sad about things.  Upset?  Yes.  But mostly Semi got mad.  Tendou stared unblinkingly at Yamagata, too large eyes and a long face did make him look like a bit of a lizard.

 

“When is the last time you got a full night's rest?”  Yamagata asked.  Ushijima looked up from his study material and frowned over at Tendou.

 

“Are you having trouble sleeping again?”  Ushijima asked, as if Tendou had anything resembling a healthy sleeping habit.

 

“This isn’t about me Wakatoshi.”  Tendou whined, drapping himself over the table and looking up at Yamagata with those too-large eyes.  Yamagata pulled his notebook out from under Tendou’s bony elbow.  “You’ll see.”  Tendou whispered hoarsely, ominously.

  
  


\--------------------

  
  


Yamagata shoved his hands into his jacket pockets, partially wishing he had invited his soulmate to his school on a school day so he could just wear his uniform.  Even better he wished they had practice earlier so he could just wear his volleyball kit but that wasn’t his luck.  It was the weekend, Saturday classes were well over and there was no practice for the day.  Semi had once said Yamagata dressed like a tool.  Yamagata was pretty sure he only said it as a way to deflect since Tendou had announced, tactlessly and loudly as they were in line for the movies, that Semi’s clothes were uncool.

 

Tendou, oddly enough, seemed to have impeccable style.

 

Yamagata had opted for a white shirt, an army jacket, relatively clean jeans and his converse, which had seen better days.  The shirt was a throw back from his first year and Yamagata hadn’t realized he had grown in both height and width.  The shirt, which had been a little loose when he was 15, was now a little snug.  But it was the only clean thing in his closet.

 

A bus pulled up and Yamagata felt himself straighten up despite telling himself this was normal, everything was fine.

 

But then Sawamura Daichi walked off the bus covering his mouth as he yawned in the late afternoon light and everything was not fine.  Because as much as Yamagata told himself this was a normal situation, it wasn’t.  Sawamura was his soulmate and for a long time that didn’t matter much.  Their parents set them up on playdates and Yamagata had always been happy to go to Sawamura’s house, to get away from his many sisters.  Sawamura had three dogs and Yamagata had always thought that was better than having multiple sisters.

 

They grew older and only saw each other during breaks in school.  But they had other friends, homework, and school activities.  By the time high school came around they were mostly resorting to texting back and forth, and even that had been dwindling as the years went by.  Yamagata hadn’t even known Sawamura was the captain of his team until they saw each other during the tournament.

 

Being soulmates hadn’t really mattered when they were little.  It hadn’t mattered when they were in middle school or even most of high school but it seemed to matter now.  At least to Yamagata.  And that scared him a bit.

 

“Hey, sorry again for making you come all this way.”  Yamagata greeted Sawamura, who smiled warmly as he shrugged his shoulders.  Yamagata wondered when the slightly shy boy who had hid behind his large dogs had turned into a sturdy young man.  Someone who had taken an infamous team and led them to Nationals.

 

“It sounded like it could be serious.”  Sawamura followed Yamagata’s led, back towards his school.  “Also potentially fun.”  Sawamura grinned, giving Yamagata a peek into the mischievous and cunning teen he was.  Yamagata had texted Sawamura, asking if he was free over the weekend and describing the odd behavior of his friend Semi.  Yamagata wasn’t sure if it was a real possession or anything Sawamura could actually help with, but even Shirabu had noticed Semi was acting off.

 

“How is your new puppy?”  Yamagata asked, figuring that was the safest topic of conversation.  Yamagata was curious about the team that had beat them out of their spot for Nationals and he also knew he had to go into greater detail about Semi but he didn’t know how to broach either topic.

 

“He’s growing so quickly.”  Sawamura pulled his phone out, turning it so Yamagata could see the background where Sawamura was holding up a puppy the size of his torso.  The puppy looked ecstatic at being held and Sawamura himself had a huge grin on his face.  The phone beeped with a new message, Yamagata saw the name **Captain Kitty-Cat** but nothing more than that.

 

“Ah sorry,” Sawamura grinned sheepishly as he glanced at the text before shoving it in his pocket.

 

“Captain Kitty-Cat?”  Yamagata couldn’t help but ask.  He didn’t see Sawamura as the type to use nicknames for people.

 

“Not my idea, trust me.”  Sawamura rubbed the back of his neck.  “We’ve been doing some training camps in Tokyo and I somehow got pulled into a group text with all the captains from there.”  Yamagata wasn’t all that surprised, even Oikawa Tooru couldn’t find anything bad to say about Sawamura and that guy was biting when he wanted to be.

 

“You trained with some of the Tokyo team's?”  Yamagata asked.  Sometimes they trained with the college teams but mostly they stuck to a strict training regime that was highly secretive.

 

“Yeah, honestly we wouldn’t have improved so much if it wasn’t for them.”  Sawamura then went onto explain the Battle of the Trash Heap.  Yamagata couldn’t help but laugh.

 

“I’ll be sure to cheer you on.”  Yamagata promised and Sawamura looked surprised but before Yamagata could question it he heard his team shouting out to him.  “Ah, sorry about this.”  Yamagata felt instantly bad.  He should have told his teammates who his soulmate was or at least warned Sawamura that he had never gotten around to telling them about him.  He didn’t want to make it seem like he was somehow embarrassed or ashamed of Sawamura in any way, it’s just that they lived two separate lives.  Since they had become teenagers they saw each other infrequently and they didn’t talk to each other much.

 

“Is this the priest?”  Tendou asked bluntly, looking Sawamura up and down like he was disappointed.  Most likely he really was.  Tendou read a lot of manga and he found reality mostly disappointing in comparison.

 

“I told you before he’s not a priest.” Yamagata said, even though he knew Tendou wasn’t listening to him.

 

“How is he suppose to exorcise a demon from Semisemi?  Can he even reach his head?”  Tendou went to press close to Sawamura but was stopped by Ohira grabbing his collar.  Sawamura’s perfectly polite smile went a little hard around the edges and Yamagata felt the sting of an insult not even meant for him.  The only reason Yamagata appeared taller than Sawamura was because of his hair.  He remembered when they were little he had been taller than Sawamura, who now had the extra centimeters and added musculature that made Yamagata feel smaller than he was.

 

“That is rude to say to someone who came all this way to help you.”  Ushijima spoke up, deep voice rumbling like he was reading out of a How to be a Polite Human book.  They had all been trying to teach Ushijima not to be so blunt, worried that he would offend the wrong person in college where he wouldn’t have Ohira or Soekawa to smooth things over for him.

 

They bickered and it clicked for Yamagata that none of them recognized who Sawamura was.  Sawamura seemed to understand at the same moment, his sharp smile turning to something truly bemused.  Yamagata would have felt insulted, though he was often times overlooked also.  It was only to be expected, being on a team with someone like Ushijima Wakatoshi meant the spotlight was always on him.  But Sawamura had played all five sets and he was Karasuno’s captain.

 

Yamagata thought it might be better this way.  Sawamura was handling it decently and Yamagata wouldn’t have to explain anything.

 

“You’re kidding, right?”  Kawanishi’s usual bored tone cut through the argument.  Yamagata shot him a glare but as usual, the tall beanpole ignored it.  “He’s Karasuno’s captain.”  Everyone turned suddenly sharp eyes on Sawamura, who only grinned in response before bowing formally.

 

“It’s nice to meet you all.”  Sawamura stood up straight and Yamagata wasn’t sure why he got the feeling that the other teen was messing with them all, but he was sure he was.

 

“It must be difficult,” Shirabu suddenly spoke up.  Yamagata wasn’t even sure why the two second years were there, they certainly didn’t believe Tendou.  “Having to depend on first years to get you to Nationals.”  Before Yamagata could move Tendou had his arm wrapped around Shirabu’s neck, a one armed hug that could be called friendly but was more a strangle hold than anything else.

 

“Cute little underclassmen, why are you even here?”  Tendou asked, rubbing hard at Shirabu’s neatly kept hair.  Shirabu struggled out of his grasp, looking angry as he pushed down his staticky hair.

 

“I want to see the look on Semi’s face when he realizes you’re trying to exorcise a demon out of him.”  Shirabu answered flatly.

 

“I’m sorry for our rudeness.”  Ohira stepped forward, holding out his hand for Sawamura to shake.  Sawamura laughed easily.

 

“It’s fine.”  Sawamura shrugged as he pulled back his hand, looking over at Shirabu.  “We are certainly lucky to have first years who are so skilled.  I can’t imagine the monsters they’ll be by next year.”  Usually unshakable Shirabu took a step back from Sawamura, who was someone vaguely threatening behind his good manners and soft smile.  Yamagata couldn’t help but laugh.

 

“You gave them a solid foundation to stand on, they will find it much more difficult next year to beat Shiratorizawa with you gone.”  Ushijima spoke up, cutting off all further arguments.  Sawamura looked surprised before he laughed, bowing once more in gratitude.

 

“That was very nice ‘toshi but the Karasuno captain has a demon to get rid of from my boyfriend.”  Tendou pulled on the sleeve of Sawamura’s sweater, leading him towards the dorms.  “Follow me, this way please.”  Yamagata was already regretting his decision to ask for Sawamura’s help.

 

“His name is Sawamura.”  Yamagata said as he followed behind Tendou, knocking his hand away before placing himself between his soulmate and the _Guess Monster_.

 

“Please don’t get your hopes up, I’m not even sure I can do anything.”  Sawamura admitted.

 

“Then why did you come?”  Tendou asked, wide eyes turning towards Sawamura, trying to lean over Yamagata to intimidate the captain.

 

“Because Yamagata asked.”  Sawamura answered with a shrug, adjusting his shoulder bag and missing Yamagata’s burning face.  Tendou, unfortunately, did not miss it and poked at Yamagata’s red cheeks until he pretended to bite Tendou.

 

“What happened to your face?”  Goshiki, as clueless and innocent as ever asked.  Kawanishi snorted as Ohira gently chided Goshiki.  It was useless, like scolding a puppy.  It just made you feel worse.  Yamagata had been curious about the rather nasty looking, and large bruise that covered Sawamura’s whole cheek.

 

“It’s fine, it was a volleyball accident.  I lost a tooth too.”  Sawamura pulled at his lip, showing the missing space where a tooth had been.  Shirabu looked a little green.

 

“You should be more careful.”  Ushijima stated gravelly.  Sawamura grinned over at Yamagata, flashing that missing tooth.

 

“You’re right.”  Sawamura got a bit side tracked by the horses and then the large fields each for a different sport.

 

“It’s like he’s never seen a school before.”  Shirabu said quietly to Kawanishi, but it was still loud enough for Sawamura to hear.  The teen turned red and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.  Yamagata turned to Shirabu and was glad the younger boy wasn’t taller than him as he glared.

 

“Maybe I should tell Coach that you’re getting a little restless with so many rest days.”  Yamagata threatened.  Shirabu went stiff before dropping his eyes.  Mostly Shirabu was pretty respectful, except perhaps to Semi.  But the kid wasn’t use to losing and having someone who had soundly beaten him was chafing him in all the wrong ways.  Yamagata didn’t mind Shirabu acting out because of the loss that still affected all of them, but he wouldn’t let him be disrespectful towards Sawamura.

 

Tendou watched the exchange with clear interest.  Mostly Yamagata didn’t bother with disciplining the younger students.  He left that job to Soekawa, but their vice captain had decided this was another one of Tendou’s schemes and had promptly gone to take a nap.

 

“Hinata and his friend were distracted by the horses too.”  Ushijima spoke up, breaking the tension as they walked into the third years dorm.  Sawamura rubbed his face as everyone else looked confused.

 

“I’m sorry about that.”  Sawamura said with an apologetic grin before laughing.  “I’ve got to tell Suga you called Kageyama, Hinata’s friend.”  Yamagata wasn’t sure who any of those names belonged to or when exactly Ushijima had apparently shown the Karasuno players around the school grounds.

 

“Toshi are you making friends without us?”  Tendou asked with widening eyes.

 

“No.”  Ushijima answered simply.

 

“Hinata said that you told him he had baseless confidence and didn’t deserve to live.”  It did sound vaguely like something Ushijima might say.  Sawamura was smiling so he must not have taken much stock in it.  “He’s afraid to go to the bathroom now before matches.”

 

“What?”  Yamagata couldn’t help but ask, nudging Sawamura when he just laughed in response.

 

“Hinata is our number 10, the little guy with the orange hair.”  Sawamura explained.  “Apparently he’s meet several people outside the bathroom.  He’s a bit nervous, Karasuno is his real first volleyball club.”  Goshiki let out an indignant squawk, pushing forward to stare at Sawamura in disbelief.

 

“How?”  It was apparently the only thing Goshiki could let out.

 

“His middle school didn’t have a boys volleyball club so he made one himself, it wasn’t until his third year he could even get into a tournament and they only played one game.”  Sawamura smiled with a shrug.  “I warned you there were some real monsters on my team.”  Goshiki jumped up and down excitedly.  He had two more years to possibly play against Karasuno.

 

“Prepare yourself for something truly terrible.”  Someone mumbled something about Semi’s wardrobe, which Yamagata had to laugh at.  The guy was a little hopeless, constantly dressing like a grandpa on their first vacation.  They all piled into Semi’s room.  It was a tight fit but it wasn’t the first time they had all squeezed into one room.

 

Semi, who was sitting at his desk, turned slowly to look at them all.  Undoubtedly Tendou had been trying to force a reaction.  There really was no logical reason this became a team activity.  But Semi just stared at them all blankly, which even Yamagata had to admit was a little odd.  Semi hated people in his room.  For the past three years he had been in constant arguments with whatever poor guy happened to share the dorm with him.

 

“Hey Semi, this is Sawamura.”  Tendou stated, drawl firmly in place.  The same drawl that usually made the muscle under Semi’s left eye twitch in annoyance.  “He’s the captain of Karasuno.  Ya know, the team that stopped us from going to nationals in our final high school tournament.  Maybe even cost you that scholarship you’ve had your eye on.”

 

If Ohira and Sawamura weren’t between them then Yamagata would have smacked Tendou upside the head for that comment.  He understand Tendou was trying to illicit a response from Semi, but he didn’t have to use Sawamura to get it.

 

“Oh.”  Semi stood up, movements almost agonizingly slow.  “Hello.”  Semi frowned slightly at Sawamura, which was just about the first true emotion he had shown since they all came into his room.

 

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you.”  Sawamura said formally.  Semi frowned a little more.  He was slightly hunched over, his left shoulder quite lower than the right which was strange.  Unlike Tendou who sometimes appeared bent like a question mark, Semi tended to have perfect posture.  Especially around people he didn’t know he tended to draw himself to his fullest height, which was a rather impressive feat.

 

“I-” Semi licked his lips.  “I think you should leave.”  He didn’t sound too sure but his eyes darted around the room, as if noticing for the first time that there were multiple people in it.

 

“Hey Semisemi-” Tendou tried, stepping forward but Semi backed up.

 

“No no, you should leave.”  Semi said firmly.  Tendou looked hurt but he quickly covered it up.

 

“Semi, Sawamura has come along way-” Ushijima spoke up but it was surprisngly Sawamura who cut him off.

 

“No he’s right, it was wrong to just barge in like this.”  Sawamura began fiddling with his messenger bag, pushing things around.  Semi watched the movements as he backed up into his desk.

 

“You should go.  You shouldn’t be here.”  Semi said, almost frantically.

 

“What is wrong with him?”  Shirabu whispered, partially hiding behind Kawanishi.  Yamagata slipped past Ohira and Tendou to stand next to Sawamura.  He wasn’t sure why, just that he felt like he needed to be nearer.

 

“I know I’m sorry, just let me get one thing- oh shoot, sorry.”  Sawamura dropped several pens and pencils out onto the floor and bent down to collect them.  Yamagata kneeled down to help as Semi continually insisted that they leave.  “Okay, I’m leaving.”  Sawamura shoved the last pencil in his bag, standing up to his full height before pulling out his hand.

 

Several things happened at once.  Semi tried to back up further, but he was already pushed against his desk and in the already crowded room there was nowhere for him to go.  Tendou and Ohira stepped forward to try and calm their teammate down.  Shirabu tried to pull both Kawanishi and Goshiki out of the room.  And finally, Sawamura opened up his hand, left to his face and blew black dust off of it.  The dust hovered in the air for what seemed like several minutes and no time at all before the dust and Semi fell to the floor.

 

“What did he do!”  Goshiki yelled, alarmed and too loud.

 

“What is that thing?”  Kawanishi asked, showing real emotion for the first time in the two years Yamagata had known him.

 

“Tendou was right, he was possessed.”  Ushijima said in his usual flat tone, no one bothered to look at him but if they had they would have seen the whites all around his green eyes as he widened his stance to protect his underclassmen.

 

“Please nobody move.”  Sawamura requested as he dug around in his bag once more.  Yamagata hadn’t realized he had grabbed Sawamura’s arm, but his fingers were clenched around the other teens forearm.  In any other moment Yamagata would have admired the strength in the muscles beneath his hand but most moments didn’t include demons.

 

“Should we squish it?”  Tendou asked.  He had caught Semi before he hit the ground and was carefully clutching his soulmate to his chest.  Ohira stood in front of his teammates, looking terrified but ready to fight.

 

“ _Mebbe I squash you_.”  The demon garbled, clinging to the wall upside down.  Or perhaps its head was just on it’s bottom, Yamagata wasn’t well versed in demons.

 

“There will be no squishing or squashing.”  Sawamura said in a tone that let Yamagata believe that this was just any other day to the other teen.  Sawamura pulled out a jar from his bag, average in size and shape except there seemed to be a tiny tree spreading wide branches and lush green grass, even a winding creek.  “Get in please.”  Sawamura requested, holding up the jar to the demon.

 

“It must have been something in the water, we’re all sharing a hallucination.”  Shirabu whispered frantically.

 

“ _No._ ”  The demon replied petutantly, twisting it’s head 180 degrees without moving it’s body.

 

“What if I give you chocolate?”  Sawamura offered, holding up a piece of homemade chocolate.

 

“ _Cho-ca-let_?”  The demon swayed once before bouncing, grabbing the chocolate from Sawamura’s outstretched hand before being sucked into the jar.  Sawamura twisted the top on before turning back to the room.

 

“Everyone should sit down.” A combination of the authority in Sawamura’s voice and everyone’s general shock led them all to taking a seat.  Sawamura placed the jar on the ground, near his opened bag before pulling out a bag full of chocolate.  “Here, eat some of this, you’ll feel better.”  He passed out a piece to everyone, including Yamagata, who couldn’t take his eyes off the miniature demon hanging upside down from the tiny tree, nibbling away at the chocolate which seemed to be the only thing that remained the same size.

 

“Is this demon chocolate?”  Goshiki whispered fearfully.

 

“No, it’s just normal kind.”  Sawamura laughed before kneeling next to where Tendou was holding Semi.  “He’ll probably be a little tired for a day or two but should return back to normal after that.  I don’t need to tell you to keep an eye on him since you’ve clearly been doing a good job of that.”  Sawamura smiled warmly and Tendou actually looked embarrassed.  Yamagata knew from years of knowing the other teen that Tendou wasn’t awarded the type of compliments most of the others were.  His always seemed to be backhanded compliments, things shaped like a compliment but hurt like an insult.

 

“Why don’t you kill it?”  Kawanishi asked from his perch on the bed, Goshiki and Shirabu pressed up against both of his sides.  He had regained his cool but his face was a shade paler than normal.

 

“Because they didn’t mean any harm, they were just lonely.”  Sawamura glanced back at the jar.  “They aren’t a true demon.  Several like them exist in places like this.  They are created from human emotion but they usually don’t have a physical form.  Whatever your friend Semi had been feeling must have been strong enough to pull it into a physical form.  It’s probably taken them years.”

 

“But they hurt Eita.”  Tendou said, staring down hard at the jar.

 

“Not purposely.”  Sawamura put the jar back into his bag, apparently not worried about it breaking.  “You can’t think of it in human terms.  They were born from negative feelings, it’s all they know.”

 

“What are you going to do with them?”  Ushijima asked, dutifully finishing off his chocolate.

 

“Take them home where they can be amongst their own kind and they won’t do any damage to humans.”  Sawamura put his bag back on and Yamagata stood up.  “It was nice meeting all of you.  If it makes it easier for you, you can pretend this never happened.”  Sawamura grinned but was stopped from walking out by Ushijima, who stood and bowed deeply.

 

“Thank you.”  Ushijima intoned deeply.  Everyone stood up, even Tendou who carefully placed Semi on the ground, and bowed before echoing Ushijima’s gratitude.  Sawamura’s cheeks turned red as he rubbed the back of his head and bowed back.

 

Yamagata followed his soulmate out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him before looking down at the chocolate he hadn’t eaten yet.

 

“You brought all that for a demon?”  Yamagata asked, looking up into deep brown eyes.

 

“No,” Sawamura answered with a small, shy smile.  “They were for you.  Asahi- one of my teammates helped me make the chocolates so I didn’t accidentally poison you and my mom helped make the jar, actually she did most of it but they are- they is two of them, they’re connected.  If you add something to one it appears in the other.  I was going to give you one and I have the other.”  Sawamura took the jar out and Yamagata noted that the demon was gone.  It worried him a little but Sawamura didn’t look alarmed.

 

“You brought me gifts?”  Yamagata asked.  “And the dust?”

 

“It’s ash from a thousand year old yew tree, it’s suppose to be good luck.”  Sawamura ducked his head.  “For your exams and everything.”

 

Yamagata wasn’t sure what he was feeling.  His heart felt like it was beating too hard against his chest and he felt a little light headed.  It wasn’t pleasant but it was, well it was kind of amazing.  Sawamura was amazing and Yamagata regretted that he had wasted so many years not realizing that.

 

“There’s a really good ramen place down the road.”  Yamagata carefully took the jar.  He loved it, even if there was a demon living in it that tried to suck the life out of his friend.  “I don’t know if ramen is still your favorite but maybe you can tell me about your teammates and your family, and your dogs.”  Sawamura flashed him a blinding smile and nodded.

 

“I’d like that.”  Yamagata smiled back at him, feeling embarrassed and happy all at once.

**Author's Note:**

> How did I even end up at this Ship? What is it about rarepairs that just feels so right?
> 
> My tumblr! http://thatishogwash.tumblr.com/


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